U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL’S 

SUMMIT ON VIOLENT CRIME

Summary of Key Factors, Promising Strategies, and Additional Steps
This project was supported by cooperative agreement 2014-CKWX-K033 awarded by the Office 

of Community Oriented Policing Services, U.S. Department of Justice. The opinions contained 

herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of 

the U.S. Department of Justice. References to specific agencies, companies, products, or services 

should not be considered an endorsement by the author(s) or the U.S. Department of Justice. 

Rather, the references are illustrations to supplement discussion of the issues. 

The Internet references cited in this publication were valid as of the date of publication. Given that 

URLs and websites are in constant flux, neither the author(s) nor the COPS Office can vouch for 

their current validity. 

Recommended citation:

Police Executive Research Forum. 2016. U.S. Attorney General’s Summit on Violent Crime: Summary 

of Key Factors, Promising Strategies, and Additional Steps. Washington, DC: Office of Community 

Oriented Policing Services.

All photos by Adam Kemerer

Published 2016
CONTENTS

Letter from the Attorney General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Violent Crime Trends: National Context 3

About the Violent Crime Summit 5

What May Be Behind the Increases in Violent Crime? A Look at Some Key Factors

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Illegal gun possession . . . . 7

Weaker gun laws . . . . . . 7

Inconsistent gun laws 8

Weak background checks .

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Inexperienced gun users 9

Prevalence of guns . . . . . 9

Low priority of gun cases .

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Unfinished receivers 10

Criminal gangs . . . . . . . . 10

Changes in gang organization

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Social media 11

Retaliation 11

Cybercrime . . . 11

Illegal drugs . . . . 12

Opioid abuse . . 12

Disruption of markets . . . 12

Psychoactive drugs 13

Legalization of marijuana . 13

Reduction in proactive policing . . . . . . . . 14

Difficulty of measuring any YouTube effect 15

Officer anxiety . . . . . 15

Other factors . . . . . . 16

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What Are Some Promising Strategies to Combat Violent Crime? 

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Crime Gun Intelligence Centers and NIBIN 17

Strategic targeting of gun prosecutions in federal court 18

Operation Exodus 19

Youth violence reduction in Chicago . . . . . . 

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Denver Impact Teams 20

Violence intervention strategies . .

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Violence reduction network 21

What More Needs To Be Done? . . 23

More timely and accurate data 23

More federal resources for re-entry programming . . . 23

More flexibility and focus on the use of federal funds . 25

More public and visible displays of support for police officers and community partners . . . .

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Conclusion . . 29

Appendix. Violent Crime Summit Participants . 31

About PERF . . 35

About the COPS Office 36

❨ iv ❩ U.S. Attorney General’s Summit On Violent Crime
LETTER FROM THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

Dear Colleagues,

On behalf of the U.S. Department of Justice, I want to thank the police chiefs, mayors, U.S. 

Attorneys, and others who participated in the October 2015 Attorney General’s Summit on Violent 

Crime. All of the participants provided valuable contributions to our discussion on what continues 

to be a profoundly challenging issue for our communities and our country. 

We covered a lot of ground at the summit, and this report summarizes the group’s wide-ranging 

discussions and findings. 

As we discussed in this meeting, there is no single solution to the problem of violent crime, and 

because the causes and effects of violence are multifaceted our responses and approaches to 

prevention must be similarly sophisticated, comprehensive, and multilayered. It is my hope that 

through this report we can expand the conversation and provide law enforcement leaders across 

the country with information and ideas that may lead to workable solutions.

As I said in October, progress will not be immediate. But I remain encouraged by the spirit of 

engagement, the commitment to action, and the ideals of service exemplified by the men and 

women who contributed to this report. I commend these dedicated public servants for sharing their 

experiences and vigorously exploring every societal, law enforcement, and criminal justice issue 

that may have a bearing on a rise in violence. And as we continue to work together and strengthen 

our partnerships, I am optimistic that we will find ways to reduce violent crime, promote officer 

safety, and restore community trust and security throughout the country. 

Finally, I am grateful to everyone who made this summit possible. I especially want to thank Ronald 

L. Davis, Director of the Office of Community Policing Services (COPS Office) and his excellent 

staff for organizing this summit, as well as the White House for their support and participation 

throughout the planning process. I also want to thank the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) 

for their outstanding work in facilitating the summit, which was moderated by PERF Executive 

Director Chuck Wexler, and for the time and effort they put into preparing this valuable report.

Sincerely, 

❨ v ❩

Loretta E. Lynch

Attorney General of the United States
Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch speaks at the Attorney General’s Summit on Violent Crime, October 7, 2015
INTRODUCTION

“I am encouraged by the spirit of engagement, the commitment to 

action, and the ideals of service exemplified by the people in this room 

today. As dedicated public servants and criminal justice professionals, 

you possess valuable experience, deep knowledge, and critical insight 

about the ways we promote public safety and protect our citizens.”

—Loretta E. Lynch, Attorney General of the United States

This report summarizes the findings from a 

one-day conference on violent crime convened 

by U.S. Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch 

in Washington, D.C., on October 7, 2015. 

After several U.S. cities experienced sudden 

increases in violent crime during the first half of 

2015, the Attorney General’s Summit on Violent 

Crime was called to help both policy makers 

and practitioners gain a better understanding 

of the situation and how it could be addressed 

most effectively.

Mayors, police chiefs, and U.S. attorneys 

representing 20 U.S. cities, most of which have 

recently experienced increases in violent crime, 

came to Washington to offer their perspectives 

on the issue. Along with high-ranking 

representatives from the U.S. Department of 

Justice and other key federal agencies, summit 

participants discussed the factors that may 

be driving the recent uptick in violence, some 

promising strategies for combating violence, 

and additional steps that may need to be taken 

to reverse recent increases. The participation of 

such a broad cross-section of local and federal 

officials helped to ensure both a high level 

and a broad base of knowledge about what 

is happening with respect to violent crime in 

American cities today.

❨ 1 ❩
Participants meet at the Attorney General’s Summit on Violent Crime, October 7, 2015
VIOLENT CRIME TRENDS: 

NATIONAL CONTEXT

When considering recent increases in violence, 

it is important to view them in context. Since 

the early 1990s, there has been a long-term 

downward trend in violent crime in the United 

States. From 1995 to 2014, the number of 

violent crimes reported by police nationwide 

fell by more than 35 percent, and the per-capita 

violent crime rate has been cut nearly in half.1

These reductions in violent crime rates have 

continued over the last decade. As seen in 

figure 1, among the 20 cities whose officials 

participated in the summit, the violent crime 

rate declined from more than 1,000 reported 

offenses per 100,000 population in 2003 to fewer 

than 800 per 100,000 population in 2014. That 

year, in fact, several cities had record or nearrecord low homicide totals for the modern era.

It was against this backdrop of overall 

reductions in violent crime that a number of 

U.S. cities began experiencing sharp upticks 

in violence in early 2015. In 16 of the 20 cities, 

homicides increased during the first six months 

of 2015 when compared to the same period of 

2014 (see figure 2 on page 4). After 

experiencing historically low homicide totals 

in 2014, some cities have seen their homicides 

surge by 50 percent or more in 2015. Another 

concern is the increase in shootings reported 

during the first half of 2015. Even in some 

cities that have not experienced an increase 

in homicides—such as Fresno, California, 

and Boston, Massachusetts—the number of 

shootings has gone up (see figure 3 on page 4).

Figure 1. Combined homicide, robbery, and 

aggravated assault rate per 100,000 population 

for all cities participating in the Attorney General’s 

Summit on Violent Crime

600

800

1000

1200

2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

❨ 3 ❩

1. Federal Bureau of Investigation, Crime in the United States, 

2014,Uniform Crime Report (Washington, DC: Federal Bureau of 

Investigation, 2015), https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crimein-the-u.s/2014/.
Figure 2. Percent change in homicide in participating cities, first six months of 2014–first six months of 2015

-60

-40

-20

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

Washington DC

St Louis

Philadelphia

Omaha

New York

Oakland

Nashville

New Orleans

Milwaukee

Long Beach

Houston

Hartford

Gary

Fresno

Denver

Dallas

Chicago

Boston

Baltimore

Albuquerque

This surge in violence in some locations has 

caught the attention of police and other justice 

system officials at all levels of government. 

Their overriding concern is to identify the 

factors that may be driving the increase in 

violence and to stem and reverse this course 

before it can gain momentum. The leaders 

at the Attorney General’s Summit on Violent 

Crime discussed their local situations and 

explored theories about

» why violence is increasing in some cities but 

not others; 

» why homicide rates and statistics on 

shootings do not always track each other; 

» what can explain the recent uptick in 

violence when compared to the situation just 

a short time ago.

Figure 3. Percent change in shooting incidents in participating cities, first six months of 2014–first six months 

of 2015

-20

0

20

40

60

80

100

St Louis

Oakland

Omaha

Philadelphia

New York

New Orleans

Nashville

Milwaukee

Houston

Hartford

Gary

Fresno

Denver

Chicago

Boston

Baltimore

Albuquerque

❨ 4 ❩ U.S. Attorney General’s Summit On Violent Crime
ABOUT THE VIOLENT CRIME SUMMIT

To explore these and other issues in some 

depth, Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch 

convened the Summit on Violent Crime. 

Mayors, police chiefs, and U.S. attorneys 

representing 20 cities were joined by top 

federal officials including the following:

» Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates

» White House Counsel Neil Eggleston

» Deputy Assistant to the President Roy Austin

» Associate Attorney General Stuart Delery

» Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) 

Director James Comey

» Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and 

Explosives (ATF) Acting Director 

Tom Brandon

» Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) 

Acting Administrator Chuck Rosenberg

» U.S. Marshals Service Acting Director 

Dave Harlow

» Assistant Attorney General Karol Mason

» Office of Community Oriented 

Policing Services (COPS Office) 

Director Ronald L. Davis

Organizations representing police officers, 

police chiefs, and mayors, along with academic, 

professional, and community representatives 

also attended. (See the appendix for a 

complete list of summit participants.2

) The 

COPS Office partnered with the Police 

Executive Research Forum (PERF) to convene 

and facilitate the summit, which was moderated 

by PERF Executive Director Chuck Wexler.

2. All titles in this report reflect participants’ positions at the 

time of the summit in October 2015.

The purpose of the summit was four-fold:

1. To better understand the nature and 

potential causes of recent upticks in violence 

in some jurisdictions, especially any common 

elements among them

2. To identify and examine effective violent 

crime reduction strategies that have 

contributed to the historic decline of crime 

and violence and which may help address 

recent upticks

3. To explore potential U.S. Department of 

Justice resources that could be used to 

assist in efforts to reduce crime 

4. To identify how local, state, and federal 

agencies can better collaborate to respond 

to the recent spike in violence

❨ 5 ❩
In her comments, Attorney General Lynch 

captured the complexity of the issues involved 

as well as the potential for progress when 

people work together:

“We understand that these are 

multifaceted issues that must 

involve more than one kind of 

response. . . . It’s why we are 

examining holistic, comprehensive 

approaches. And it’s why we will 

continue to build a strong and 

effective coalition to take on these 

complex challenges.”

—Loretta E. Lynch, Attorney General of the United States

This report provides a summary of the main 

issues discussed during the Attorney General’s 

Summit on Violent Crime. The summit 

produced new ideas for combating violent 

crime, stronger relationships to carry out those 

ideas, and a renewed commitment by a wide 

range of leaders to ensure that the historic 

reductions in violence of the past two decades 

will continue.

❨ 6 ❩ U.S. Attorney General’s Summit On Violent Crime
WHAT MAY BE BEHIND THE INCREASES 

IN VIOLENT CRIME? A LOOK AT SOME 

KEY FACTORS

The Attorney General’s Summit on Violent 

Crime was not a series of speeches but 

rather a frank, unscripted dialogue among 

local and federal officials, many of whom are 

experiencing the surge of violence firsthand. 

Much of the day was spent exploring various 

issues that participants identified during presummit interviews as being among the key 

factors that may be impactingviolent crime in 

their cities. 

Illegal gun possession

Easy availability, few consequences 

There was overwhelming consensus that lax 

state and federal gun laws and ready to access 

to firearms by criminals (in particular by violent 

repeat offenders) are major contributors to 

violent crime. While summit participants 

acknowledged that this situation was hardly 

new, they pointed to some recent trends that 

are making an already difficult landscape with 

gun violence even more challenging for police 

and communities.

Weaker gun laws

The move toward weaker gun laws has 

continued and has even accelerated in some 

states. St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay reported 

that Missouri recently amended its state 

constitution to create an “unalienable right” 

to carry a gun. He said some judges are now 

dismissing “felon in possession” gun charges 

because they interpret the state constitutional 

amendment as trumping local gun laws. In 

Wisconsin, individuals convicted of multiple 

misdemeanor gun crimes are not prohibited 

from buying or owning a gun under state law, 

and a 2011 law created a loophole that allows 

some career criminals to obtain concealedcarry permits. In many states, there continues 

to be no requirement to report a lost or stolen 

firearm. Several summit participants reported 

that one consequence of these legislative 

trends is that more criminals, especially repeat 

career criminals, are choosing to carry firearms 

on the streets of their cities. 

“My average shooter has 14 prior 

arrests; my average victim has 11 

prior arrests. . . . Right now, in the 

calculation of one of our career 

criminals, it’s more dangerous 

to get caught without your gun, 

because you might get shot by a 

rival gang member or somebody, 

than to get caught with it by 

❨ 7 ❩
the police. Why? Because in 

Wisconsin you can be arrested 

10 times for carrying a concealed 

weapon illegally and it stays a 

misdemeanor. Unless you are 

a previously convicted felon, it 

never becomes a felony.” 

—Edward Flynn, Chief, 

Milwaukee (Wisconsin) Police Department

Inconsistent gun laws

As gun laws get weaker in some jurisdictions, 

the lack of consistency makes fighting crime 

difficult for jurisdictions with stricter laws. States 

and municipalities with relatively strict laws on 

gun possession (and in some cases with no gun 

stores within their cities) find that many of their 

crime guns are purchased and imported from 

nearby “source” states and municipalities. In 

many instances, officials can pinpoint specific 

gun dealers that supply a disproportionate 

number of crime guns, but police have had 

limited recourse in doing anything about them.3

To better understand the distribution patterns 

of crime guns, both Chicago and Milwaukee 

have begun tracking the “time to crime”—the 

elapsed time from when a gun was originally 

purchased to when it was used in a crime. 

Officials reported that “time to crime” has 

declined sharply in both cities; it is now less 

than six months in Milwaukee.

3. Shortly after the summit, two Milwaukee police officers who 

were shot and seriously injured in the line of duty successfully 

sued the owners a West Milwaukee gun store for failing to stop 

the straw purchase of the weapon used to shoot them. For 

background on this case, see John Diedrich, “Jury Finds for 

Wounded Officers in Badger Guns Lawsuit,” Milwaukee Journal 

Sentinel, accessed April 11, 2016, http://www.jsonline.com/

watchdog/watchdogreports/jury-finds-for-wounded-officers-inbadger-guns-lawsuit-b99596217z1-332567372.html. 

“We’ve recently begun tracking 

the ‘time to crime,’ and it’s very 

similar to Milwaukee. It’s a pretty 

quick turnaround from those 

guns that are purchased in the 

suburbs of Chicago, then end 

up being used in crimes in the 

City of Chicago.”

—John Escalante, First Deputy Superintendent, 

Chicago (Illinois) Police Department

Weak background checks

Holes in the background check process 

continue to make it easy for criminals and 

persons with mental illness to obtain firearms. 

Summit participants noted that there continues 

to be overwhelming support—among not just 

mayors and police executives but also the 

country as a whole—for universal background 

checks on all gun purchases. Because 

making a straw gun purchase is not a felony 

under Wisconsin law, Chief Edward Flynn 

of Milwaukee said it is not uncommon for a 

prohibited buyer to send someone else to a 

big-box store to purchase multiple weapons, 

which are then sold on the secondary market in 

Milwaukee. St. Louis, Missouri, officials reported 

that firearms sold without background checks at 

gun shows are increasingly showing up at crime 

scenes. Other summit participants called for 

greater sharing of information about individuals 

who fail background checks. 

❨ 8 ❩ U.S. Attorney General’s Summit On Violent Crime
“The U.S. Conference of Mayors 

is asking for immediate federal 

action to stem violence. . . . 

When it comes to guns, we’re 

asking the FBI to notify local 

authorities immediately when 

an individual trying to purchase a 

gun fails a background check.”

— Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, Mayor, City of Baltimore, 

Maryland, and President, U.S. Conference of Mayors

Inexperienced gun users

Evidence suggests there may be more guns on 

the street in the hands of inexperienced users. 

Several cities—including Baltimore, Chicago, 

Milwaukee, and St. Louis—reported that police 

seizures of firearms are up sharply in 2015. 

Some cities also reported that the number of 

stolen guns reported to the police has risen. 

Baltimore Police Commissioner Kevin Davis 

reported one piece of anecdotal evidence 

suggesting that more young people who are 

inexperienced with weapons may be carrying 

guns: The number of accidental, self-inflicted 

gunshot wounds in the city is up 40 percent with 

many people inadvertently shooting themselves 

in the upper thigh or top of the foot. 

“They’re not used to carrying a 

firearm, but they’re choosing 

to carry one anyway. They typically 

don’t use holsters; so they’re 

sticking that gun in their waistband 

or in their pocket. More people are 

carrying guns because that’s their 

way of conflict resolution.”

—Kevin Davis, Commissioner, 

Baltimore (Maryland) Police Department

Prevalence of guns

Because of the ready presence of firearms, 

petty arguments are often resulting in lethal 

violence. Some cities reported an increase in 

the number of indiscriminate “up close and 

personal” shootings, in which the victims and 

offenders know each other and come largely 

from the same demographic: career criminals 

from neighborhoods with a history of violence, 

high unemployment, and limited educational 

opportunities and achievement. When guns are 

so readily available, they become the conflict 

resolution tool of choice. Several police chiefs 

noted the influence of social media: Petty spats 

on Twitter, Instagram, or other online platforms 

are easily and quickly escalating to shootings 

and homicides.

“In many cases the only thing that 

made the victim the victim is he 

lost the gunfight.”

—Charles McClelland, Chief, 

Houston (Texas) Police Department

Low priority of gun cases

Even when arrests are made, gun cases are 

not always a priority for prosecutors, and many 

offenders receive probation. Even as gun 

seizures by police have increased, Chicago 

officials reported that individuals caught 

with illegal guns are not always being held 

accountable. Chicago Police Department First 

Deputy Superintendent John Escalante said 

that more than 25 percent of the inmates in 

Cook County Jail awaiting trial or sentencing 

are there on drug charges, but just 5 percent 

are in jail on gun charges. This means that 

many gun arrestees are free pending trial, 

increasing their chances of becoming an 

offender or victim in another gun crime. 

What May Be Behind the Increases in Violent Crime? A Look at Some Key Factors ❨ 9 ❩
Several mayors and police chiefs expressed 

frustration that even when people are 

arrested and convicted of gun possession 

crimes—sometimes multiple times for multiple 

offenses—the harshest punishment they 

receive is probation. Police chiefs and mayors 

are asking federal prosecutors to take more 

gun cases, especially those involving repeat 

offenders, to federal court, where penalties are 

often less lenient. But U.S. attorneys noted that 

their resources are limited, so they can take 

only a small fraction of gun cases.

“This is incredibly frustrating 

for us. We arrest individuals for 

unlawful use of a weapon, for 

possession cases, even for acts of 

violence. Professor Rick Rosenfeld 

from the University of MissouriSt. Louis did a study and looked 

at the cases that went before the 

courts in the circuit in St. Louis. In 

almost two-thirds of those cases, 

probation is the outcome.”

—Sam Dotson, Chief, 

St. Louis (Missouri) Metropolitan Police Department

Unfinished receivers

So-called “unfinished receivers” are a growing 

concern in California and could spread nationally. 

Also known as “80 percenters,” these largely 

unregulated component pieces can be easily 

obtained and adapted at home into fully 

functional automatic or semiautomatic weapons 

that have no serial numbers and cannot be 

traced. Police chiefs and U.S. attorneys in 

California report that more of these weapons are 

turning up at crime scenes; they fear the trend 

could move to other parts of the country. 

“We did a takedown yesterday 

where we arrested six people 

and seized 50 newly constructed 

AR-15s. In the course of the 

investigation we purchased 

another 35 or 40 of them. They’re 

easily put together completely 

outside the license process in 

machine shops in homes. It’s 

happening in big numbers in 

California, and it’s going to start 

spreading around the country.” 

—Benjamin Wagner, U.S. Attorney, 

Eastern District of California

Criminal gangs

Changing gang structures have led 

to more violence and more 

unpredictable violence

While violence associated with street gangs is 

not new, summit participants identified some 

important changes in how gang violence is 

impacting their cities.

Changes in gang organization

Changes in the organization and activities 

of some gangs are changing the nature of 

gang-related violence. Large-scale feuds 

among street gangs, often over control of 

drug markets, remain a concern in many 

cities. However, several police chiefs and 

prosecutors noted that recently, much of their 

gang-related violence is being driven not by 

the large, organized, hierarchical gangs but 

rather by small, neighborhood-based factions 

or individuals only loosely affiliated with the 

established gangs.

❨ 10 ❩ U.S. Attorney General’s Summit On Violent Crime
Lacking the hierarchy and discipline of the 

larger criminal organizations, these “microcrews” are engaging in petty disputes with one 

another and then settling them violently with 

firearms. Several summit participants noted that 

this type of violence is proving to be even more 

random and unpredictable than traditional 

gang violence of the past.

“More and more what I’m 

seeing are less organized, looser 

collections of street guys and that 

presents some really different and 

more difficult law enforcement 

issues for us.We’ve gone from 

the organizational crime which we 

can get our hands around, versus 

the crimes of opportunity.” 

—David Capp, U.S. Attorney, Northern District of Indiana

Social media

Social media has become a new form of 

gang tagging and taunting. Several summit 

participants noted that social media is 

contributing to the random nature of much 

of today’s violence. This is especially true 

among members of the so-called micro-crews 

or loose gang affiliates, for whom a seemingly 

minor taunt or challenge on social media 

can easily and quickly turn into a shooting or 

homicide on the street. 

“We’re seeing a lot of our violence 

now being driven by social media. 

It’s the new form of tagging and 

taunting, and we know a lot of 

our violence is being driven by 

social media.”

—John Escalante, First DeputySuperintendent, 

Chicago (Illinois) Police Department

Retaliation

Gang retaliation can be quick and ferocious. 

Denver (Colorado) Police Chief Robert C. White 

reported a recent spate of lethal violence 

associated with the murder of a single gangaffiliated rap artist. The rapper had been 

challenging and taunting rivals through his lyrics, 

in concerts, and on social media. His murder 

outside a nightclub in late 2014 led to 12 

retaliatory homicides in the first quarter of 2015.

Cybercrime

Gangs are increasingly moving into cybercrime, 

leaving behind traditional drug markets, 

which can spark confrontations. New York City 

Police Department (NYPD) Commissioner 

William Bratton noted that some of the larger, 

hierarchical gangs are moving away from 

traditional sources of income, such as illegal 

drugs, and are moving into more lucrative 

cybercrimes, such as identity theft and credit 

card fraud. Summit participants expressed 

concern that any void left in drug distribution 

networks could lead to violent confrontations 

among other gangs or gang affiliates.

What May Be Behind the Increases in Violent Crime? A Look at Some Key Factors ❨ 11 ❩
“We’re seeing a very significant 

shift in what our gangs are 

involved in as far as moneymaking 

activity.”

—William Bratton, Commissioner, 

New York City Police Department

Illegal drugs

Heroin re-emergence, new psychoactive 

drugs are complicating matters for cities 

The explosion of heroin abuse and new 

psychoactive drugs (often called “synthetics”) 

in some cities, combined with the drug 

distribution networks operating in those 

communities, may be impacting violent crime.

Opioid abuse

Prescription drug abuse is helping to fuel a 

dramatic rise in heroin abuse. For more than 

a year, mayors and police chiefs in some parts 

of the country have been noting a dramatic 

rise in heroin abuse—and overdoses—in their 

cities, largely among users who started with 

prescription painkillers. Recently, however, the 

police, armed with new laws, have successfully 

disrupted illegal prescription drug markets. 

Also, over the past few years, the purity of 

heroin has generally risen and prices have 

fallen. This combination of factors is leading 

many prescription drug abusers to turn to the 

cheaper and more potent heroin, which has the 

same effect on the body as Oxycodone and 

similar prescription painkillers. 

According to Acting Administrator Chuck 

Rosenberg of the Drug Enforcement 

Administration (DEA), heroin is now the 

number one problem in two-thirds of the 

DEA’s field divisions nationally. In the short 

term, some police chiefs reported that 

increased heroin use has contributed to a rise 

in street robberies, and they are concerned that 

other violent crime could follow.

“On the streets of Baltimore or 

the streets of New York, you pay a 

dollar a milligram for Oxycodone. 

A 30-milligram pill will cost you 30 

bucks, give or take. But you can 

get the same high from heroin for 

about five or six dollars. That’s 

what we’re looking at right now, 

and it’s an astonishingly difficult 

and broad problem.”

—Chuck Rosenberg, Acting Administrator, 

U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration

Disruption of markets

The disruption of established drug markets 

can lead to violent battles to fill the void. DEA 

Acting Administrator Rosenberg noted that 

most drug organizations are “poly-drug,” 

meaning they will supply what the market 

demands and are flexible in meeting those 

needs. Dallas (Texas) Police Chief David Brown 

noted that when drug gangs are disrupted or 

removed, the competition to fill the void can 

be violent—an unintended consequence of 

law enforcement’s success that needs to be 

planned for. 

Sometimes, however, the drug market 

disruptions cannot be anticipated. Baltimore 

(Maryland) Police Commissioner Kevin Davis 

reported that during the civil unrest in the 

spring of 2015 following the in-custody death 

of Freddie Gray, looters ransacked pharmacies 

and introduced at least 288,000 doses of 

prescription opiates into the market. This 

disruption of the “normalcy of the traditional 

❨ 12 ❩ U.S. Attorney General’s Summit On Violent Crime
drug markets” led to disputes among dealers 

at all levels and contributed to a surge in 

violence, the commissioner reported.

“We have done a really good job 

of drug market disruption, but 

soon after a really good case is 

taken to the feds, we see a violent 

competition to take over the void 

of that market, because it’s driven 

by demand. So when you take out 

someone who’s running a street or 

neighborhood or running a big part 

of your city, the competition for 

that replacement is very violent.”

—David Brown, Chief, Dallas (Texas) Police Department 

Psychoactive drugs

New psychoactive drugs are complicating the 

drug picture in some cities. Officials in New 

York City and Washington, D.C., especially 

noted a sharp rise in the sale and use of socalled “synthetic drugs”—variable and largely 

unregulated substances that go by names such 

as K2, spice, and legal phunk. Officials reported 

that these substances, much like phencyclidine 

(PCP), can produce erratic and sometimes 

violent behavior among users.

“To address the growing 

threat of what are called ‘new 

psychoactive substances,’ the 

administration is working across 

the Federal Government, with 

Congress, and with international, 

state, municipal, and community 

partners to reduce use and 

availability of these dangerous 

substances in our communities.”

—Mary Lou Leary, Deputy Director, 

Office of National Drug Control Policy

Legalization of marijuana

There is not enough evidence yet to determine 

the impact of legalized marijuana on crime 

rates, although illegal marijuana distribution 

continues to fuel violence in some areas. 

Officials from Denver reported that the 

legalization of marijuana in Colorado does 

not appear to have impacted violent crime in 

the short term, although there has been an 

increase in commercial burglaries of the all-cash 

marijuana establishments. NYPD Commissioner 

Bratton said that while violence associated 

with open-air drug (mostly cocaine) markets 

has subsided greatly in New York City, violence 

associated with marijuana distribution networks 

continues to be a serious problem.

“Thirteen percent of all of our 

business burglaries are marijuanarelated, either one of the growers 

or one of the dispensaries. Right 

now, this is a cash-only business 

for the most part, and as a result, 

those who are ill-intended seize 

on the opportunity to target 

those dispensaries that are selling 

legal marijuana.”

—Robert C. White, Chief, 

Denver (Colorado) Police Department

What May Be Behind the Increases in Violent Crime? A Look at Some Key Factors ❨ 13 ❩
Reduction in proactive policing

While there is no evidence of organized 

work slow-downs, some believe there 

is apprehension among officers, which 

could be impacting proactive policing

“Our discussion about civil 

rights and the appropriate use 

of force and all police tactics 

can only serve to make all of us, 

community members and police 

officers, safer. In my discussions 

with police officers around the 

country, I have found positive 

engagement on these issues. 

So while certainly there may be 

anecdotal evidence there, as all 

have noted there’s no data to 

support it. What I have seen in 

my travels across the country is 

the dedication, the commitment, 

and the resolve of our brave men 

and women in law enforcement 

to improving policing, to 

embracing the [President’s Task 

Force on 21st Century Policing] 

recommendations, and to 

continuing to have a dialogue that 

makes our country safer for all.”

—Loretta E. Lynch, Attorney General of the United 

States, testimony before U.S. House of Representatives 

Committee on the Judiciary, November 17, 2015

Of all the exchanges that took place at the 

Attorney General’s Summit on Violent Crime, 

perhaps the most difficult was the discussion 

on whether the now commonplace video 

recordings of police-community interactions 

are affecting officer behavior, productivity, and 

willingness to be proactive—and ultimately 

affecting violent crime as well. Summit 

participants offered a number of perspectives 

on the so-called “YouTube effect” and its 

impact on police activity and recent spikes in 

crime in some cities.

No evidence was presented at the summit 

directly linking any reduction in proactive 

policing with increases in crime. It was noted 

that crime did increase at least in the short 

term following highly publicized incidents 

in Baltimore, Maryland, and the St. Louis, 

Missouri, region, although there could be many 

explanations for that including some factors 

that began before the incidents themselves. 

This is clearly an area that warrants further 

study and attention.

“I don’t know if there is a chilling 

effect with the officers. When 

I go all around the country and 

listen to officers, and I hear 

them talking about being more 

selective, thinking twice about 

stopping people and using force, 

my reaction is, ‘Great, that’s what 

you’re supposed to do.’ You’re 

talking about the restriction of 

freedom and possibly the use of 

deadly force, and the idea that 

you would think carefully about it 

is a good thing.”

—Ronald L. Davis, Director, Office of Community 

Oriented Policing Services

❨ 14 ❩ U.S. Attorney General’s Summit On Violent Crime
Difficulty of measuring any 

YouTube effect

Measuring any reduction in proactive policing is 

extremely difficult, and there is no evidence of 

any type of organized or widespread work slowdowns on the part of officers. Professor Richard 

Rosenfeld of the University of Missouri-St. Louis 

said that if crime were up and arrests were 

down across the board, that could indicate 

a “purposeful de-escalation” of policing 

activity—but the data are far from clear. In fact, 

some activity measures, such as the seizure of 

illegal firearms, are up sharply in several cities, 

including in Baltimore and St. Louis, where one 

might expect recent high-profile incidents to 

have had a chilling effect on officers. Summit 

participants offered no concrete evidence of 

“blue flu” or other organized work slow-downs 

that, in the past, have been associated with 

traditional management-labor disputes.

“It’s not apparent to me 

that places like Minneapolis, 

Milwaukee, St. Louis—places 

that are up in crime—have seen 

a profound decrease in arrests. 

Perhaps temporarily after 

protest activity, but not over 

the long term.”

—Richard Rosenfeld, Professor, 

University of Missouri-St. Louis

Officer anxiety

Some summit participants argued that officer 

anxiety in the current environment is real, and 

it may be leading some officers to be less 

proactive. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) 

Director James Comey said that “a chill wind is 

blowing through law enforcement,” as officers 

may be questioning how they do their jobs 

and how the public views them. Mayor Rahm 

Emanuel of Chicago, Illinois, and others said 

that based on their discussions with officers, 

many are feeling besieged and are fearful of 

doing something that could ruin their careers 

if it is captured on a few seconds of video that 

may not tell the whole story—the so-called 

“YouTube effect.”

Summit participants also pointed out that 

being a police officer today may be the most 

scrutinized—and now videotaped—job in 

the country, sometimes through organized 

campaigns to record police-citizen interactions. 

This constant scrutiny can feed feelings of 

apprehension among officers as they question 

actions they have traditionally done in the 

past and become more selective in their selfinitiated activity.

“The level of anxieties post-riots, 

to include the arrest of six police 

officers, was very real. There was 

a lot of conversation about what 

reasonable suspicion is, what 

probable cause is. Has it changed? 

Are things being looked at 

differently? That level of anxiety 

was so thick you could cut it with 

a knife.”

—Kevin Davis, Commissioner, 

Baltimore (Maryland) Police Department

What May Be Behind the Increases in Violent Crime? A Look at Some Key Factors ❨ 15 ❩
Other factors

Other factors may help explain any reductions 

in proactive policing. St. Louis (Missouri) 

Metropolitan Police Chief Sam Dotson said that 

because calls for service are up 11 percent in 

his city and police ranks have thinned, officers 

are spending more time answering calls and 

have less time to engage in proactive policing. 

In some cities, increased documentation of 

community contacts is taking up more officer 

time. Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer noted that 

in California, some officers are growing frustrated 

because there are seemingly few rewards for 

being proactive: Suspects they repeatedly arrest 

are receiving few consequences and are quickly 

back on the street. 

“You just have to talk to your 

officers and find out that they 

are being much more thoughtful, 

much more selective in who 

they stop and where they stop 

individuals on the street. So as a 

result you’re going to have more 

people that are driving on the 

streets today armed with guns 

that aren’t being stopped that 

perhaps used to be stopped.”

—Jerry Dyer, Chief, Fresno (California) Police Department 

“Among the officers, there wasn’t 

a conscious conversation about, 

’Are we not going to do our 

jobs?’ It’s the environment, the 

new norm seen in St. Louis: an 

11-percent increase in calls for 

services, less time for officers to 

go to the self-initiated activities, 

increases in crime.”

—Sam Dotson, Chief, 

St. Louis (Missouri) Metropolitan Police Department

NYPD Commissioner Bratton reported that 

New York City is purposefully reducing some 

police activities (including stop-question-frisk 

encounters, which have declined from 700,000 

in 2010 to about 40,000 a year now) so that 

officers can focus on other priorities that impact 

violent crime.

❨ 16 ❩ U.S. Attorney General’s Summit On Violent Crime
WHAT ARE SOME PROMISING STRATEGIES 

TO COMBAT VIOLENT CRIME?

After exploring some of the key factors that 

may be driving the spikes in violent crime in 

some American cities, summit participants 

turned to a discussion of promising strategies 

for addressing those factors. Following are 

some of the key efforts discussed at the 

summit, in particular efforts that involve local 

and Federal Government cooperation.

Crime Gun Intelligence Centers 

and NIBIN

Technology and local-federal 

partnerships enhance criminal 

investigations and prosecutions

Three cities represented at the summit—

Chicago, Illinois; Denver, Colorado; and 

Milwaukee, Wisconsin—have launched Crime 

Gun Intelligence Centers to coordinate and 

speed up investigations ofgun violence. Two 

elements are key to this approach: collecting 

guns and ballistic evidence from all crime 

scenes (including incidents in which shots are 

fired at buildings, vehicles, street signs, etc., 

but don’t strike anyone) and quickly analyzing 

that evidence using modern technology. 

On the technology side, the centerpiece is 

the National Integrated Ballistic Information 

Network (NIBIN), developed by the Bureau of 

Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives 

(ATF).The NIBIN program automates 

ballistics evaluations and provides actionable 

investigative leads in a timely manner. Firearms 

technicians enter cartridge casing evidence into 

the Integrated Ballistic Identification System, 

and these images are correlated against the 

national database, assisting agencies in linking 

incidents, identifying trigger pullers, and 

getting offenders off the streets before the next 

shooting or homicide occurs. 

With its own dedicated crime lab and NIBIN’s 

fast-track capability, Denver has been able 

to reduce the turnaround time for analyzing 

ballistic evidence from weeks or months to 

just days. In Nashville, Tennessee, which also 

has its own crime lab, police made 22 cold 

hits through NIBIN in just three months, 

including a murder case and five related 

incidents. To better position NIBIN in support 

of local agencies, the ATF recently moved 

this function from its Crime Lab to its Field 

Operations division. 

❨ 17 ❩
“One of the most significant 

opportunities to address violent 

offenders in our communities is 

the NIBIN fast-track program. 

Due to the mobility of criminals 

today, expansion of access to the 

fast-track program to more law 

enforcement agencies will increase 

the ability to identify violent 

offenders. Swift accountability 

for criminals engaged in 

violence against members of the 

community, particularly those 

using guns, provides the greatest 

returns to law enforcement 

in achieving our public safety 

mission. Collaboration of federal, 

state, and local law enforcement 

in the prosecution of these 

offenders can reduce and deter 

future violence while focusing 

incarceration and law enforcement 

resources where they can have the 

greatest impact.”

—J. Damian Huggins, Deputy Chief, 

Metropolitan Nashville (Tennessee) Police Department

Strategic targeting of gun 

prosecutions in federal court

Local police, state and federal 

prosecutors work together to go after 

the most serious violent offenders

Several jurisdictions reported that local police 

and state and federal prosecutors now meet 

on a regular basis to review and triage their 

violent crime cases and jointly determine how 

to have the greatest impact on violence. Often, 

this means prosecuting the most serious violent 

offenders on federal charges. One example 

is Operation Triggerlock in New York City, in 

which the NYPD, the U.S. Attorney for the 

Eastern District of New York, and the ATF team 

up to identify and prosecute in federal court the 

most violent gun offenders in high-crime areas. 

In Denver, when NIBIN pointed to two gangs 

involved in a spate of violence, police were able 

to gather additional evidence, and the U.S. 

Attorney’s Office brought 20 federal cases. 

Some of the U.S. attorneys at the summit 

pointed out that in cases involving drug-related 

violence, prosecutors may choose to bring drug 

and Racketeer and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) 

Act charges, because these are often easier to 

prove in court and, when handled strategically, 

can result in removing violent offenders from the 

community for just as long as if those offenders 

were prosecuted on other charges. 

“We are all experiencing the same 

challenges with individuals who 

are charged in state court being 

released and the local courts 

not being a deterrent. We know 

for a fact in Baltimore, when we 

have the assistance of the federal 

system, it makes an impact.”

—Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, Mayor, City of Baltimore, 

Maryland, and President, U.S. Conference of Mayors

❨ 18 ❩ U.S. Attorney General’s Summit On Violent Crime
Operation Exodus

Providing apprentice and job 

opportunities for prisoners re-entering 

the community

Faced with the challenge of more offenders—or 

returning citizens—being released from prison 

and returning to the community with few skills 

and limited job options, Boston, Massachusetts, 

officials approached their local trade unions 

about creating a pre-apprenticeship training 

program for some recently released prisoners 

to gain skills and eventually job placement. Of 

the 36 initially placed in the program, named 

Operation Exodus, 28 successfully graduated. 

Boston Mayor Martin Walsh said the initiative 

is meant to do more than find jobs in the short 

term for people returning to the community; 

it is intended to break the “generational 

hopelessness” that permeates many 

communities. He indicated that as Operation 

Exodus has grown and word of its success has 

spread, people in some of Boston’s high crime 

neighborhoods have begun inquiring how they 

can get involved.

“We have to create some type 

of hope for people, and I think 

that’s what Operation Exodus 

has done. It has created a lot of 

hope and that hope is contagious. 

People in Roxbury, Mattapan, and 

Dorchester are saying, ‘How do I 

get into that program?’”

—Martin Walsh, Mayor, City of Boston

Youth violence reduction 

in Chicago

Investing in young people to drive 

down violence

Although homicides and shootings are up 

overall in Chicago, Illinois, shootings and 

homicides of young people are down 30 

percent and 8 percent, respectively. Chicago 

officials at the summit attributed these positive 

trends to an intensive, evidence-based effort 

to invest in young people. Today, 28,000 

Chicago public school students are receiving 

after-school programming including mentoring 

and academic support, and 25,000 young 

people now work in summer jobs. Among the 

summer job program participants, a subset 

also received more intensive, “wrap-around” 

support to address multiple needs. A followup analysis revealed that this group had 50 

percent fewer arrests than the other program 

participants. 

“We have in four years increased 

our after-school funding by 100 

percent and our summer jobs by 

75 to 80 percent—the largest 

programs in the history of the city. 

If anybody doubts those kinds of 

interventions or investments work, 

just consider that at a time when 

we’re seeing dramatic increases in 

overall shootings and homicides, 

the trend with adolescents is 

going the other way.”

—Rahm Emanuel, Mayor, City of Chicago, Illinois

What Are Some Promising Strategies to Combat Violent Crime? ❨ 19 ❩
Denver Impact Teams

Targeted enforcement combined with 

youth outreach 

In response to a spate of gang-related violence, 

Denver, Colorado, officials formed Impact 

Teams, a large-scale collaborative campaign 

that brought together two dozen police and 

community partners. On the enforcement end, 

the effort used technology and partnerships 

with federal agencies to focus on gun crimes 

and target violent repeat offenders for arrest 

and enhanced prosecution by both state and 

federal prosecutors. 

In the community, Denver officials reached 

out to high-risk youths through an extensive 

program of free summer activities including 

field trips and summer camps and partnerships 

with faith communities, Boys and Girls Clubs, 

and even former gang members.

“Perhaps the greatest resource 

we have in dealing with the gang 

issue is getting the community 

partners on board. The Impact 

Team has 25 different partners as 

it relates to addressing the gang 

issue: 15 are law enforcement 

components and technology, 

and 10 of them are community 

components, such as the pastors.”

—Robert C. White, Chief, 

Denver (Colorado) Police Department

Violence intervention strategies

Systematic efforts to intervene with 

gang members before the next crime 

A number of cities reported on their efforts 

to identify and directly intervene with known 

gang members and other potentially violent 

offenders. The goal is to keep these individuals 

not only from committing new violent crimes 

but also from becoming victims of violence 

themselves. 

In Chicago, for example, the police 

department’s Office of Crime Control Strategies 

created a sophisticated mathematical formula 

to identify the gang members who are at 

greatest risk of becoming a victim or offender 

in future violence. Police officers then go out 

into the neighborhoods and attempt to make 

direct contact with the individuals. Officers 

explainto the individuals why they got on the 

police department’s list, the consequences 

of continued gang activity, and alternatives 

available to them. 

First Deputy Superintendent Escalante reported 

that even when officers do not make direct 

contact with the gang members themselves, 

they are seeing some success in talking with 

family members about consequences and 

alternatives. Gary, Indiana, Mayor Karen 

Freeman-Wilson emphasized the importance 

of not just giving lip service to the two paths 

for gang members—an alternative lifestyle or 

severe consequences—but actually following 

through on creating and funding both paths.

❨ 20 ❩ U.S. Attorney General’s Summit On Violent Crime
“You have to provide the 

education, the employment, 

the housing—whatever those 

individuals who want to get out 

of the gang life need. But you 

also have to make good on the 

promise that if they don’t take 

the better role, the law-abiding 

role, then we have created 

another option for you that you 

won’t like. You have to be clear 

on both paths.”

—Karen Freeman-Wilson, Mayor, City of Gary, Indiana

Violence reduction network

Data-driven, evidence-based initiatives 

are supporting local violence reduction 

efforts 

Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates described 

recent successes from the Violence Reduction 

Network (VRN), a U.S. Department of Justice 

(DOJ) initiative that provides strategic, intensive 

training and technical assistance to reduce 

violence in high-crime cities. Examples include 

the following:

» In Wilmington, Delaware, the homicide 

clearance rate rose from 10 percent to 50 

percent after the VRN provided training and 

helped the police department establish a 

homicide response unit. 

» In Detroit, Michigan, the police department 

partnered with a local university to 

thoroughly analyze their data and identify 

warning signs for domestic violence. 

» In Richmond, California, VRN resources 

were used to support the “Safe City 

Summer” initiative, a community safety fair 

and expo that allowed police to engage 

with approximately 4,000 residents. 

Just prior to the summit, the DOJ announced 

that five new cities were joining the VRN, 

bringing the total to 10.

“This is not an [Office of Justice 

Programs] program; it’s not a 

COPS [Office] program; it’s not 

an [Office on Violence against 

Women] program—it’s a [U.S.] 

Department of Justice program. 

And everybody at this table, 

every one of the federal law 

enforcement agencies, has been 

actively involved in it. Our goal 

is to figure out how we can 

collectively use the resources 

that we have to be better 

partners with all of you to create 

safer communities.”

—Karol Mason, Assistant Attorney General, 

Office of Justice Programs

What Are Some Promising Strategies to Combat Violent Crime? ❨ 21 ❩
Senior U.S. Department of Justice officials meet at the Attorney General’s Summit on Violent Crime, October 7, 2015
WHAT MORE NEEDS TO BE DONE?

Finally, summit participants discussed what 

more needs to be done both to better 

understand the recent surge in violence in many 

cities and to implement solutions to reverse 

those trends. Here are some of the main 

themes that emerged from that discussion.

More timely and accurate data

Having actionable information can 

bekey to combating violent crime 

and building community trust

FBI Director Comey focused much of his 

remarks on the need to develop a more 

accurate, rich, and timely view of violent crime 

data in the United States. (See the sidebar 

for a more detailed summary of his remarks.) 

Acknowledging that fighting crime largely 

is a local issue and will remain so, Director 

Comey said that nevertheless there would 

be “tremendous value” in having a detailed, 

accurate national picture of crime. Using a 

medical analogy, the director said that just 

as emergency room doctors benefit from 

knowing about trends or spikes in certain kinds 

of illnesses around the country, so too would 

police chiefs and crime analysts benefit from 

information about national crime trends or 

spikes delivered on a timely basis. 

Director Comey said that better data would 

not only help police officials and prosecutors 

with their tactical responses to violent crime but 

would also help inform the broader national 

conversation about violent crime and policecommunity relations. He noted that because 

so much violent crime is concentrated in 

poor, highly challenged communities, it is 

sometimes easy for the rest of the country 

to be unaware of what is taking place—an 

assertion echoed by Mayors Mitchell Landrieu 

of New Orleans, Louisiana, and Tom Barrett of 

Milwaukee, Wisconsin, among others. Having 

better data would support a truly national 

conversation about violence. Also, having more 

timely, accurate, and comprehensive data on 

violent encounters between police officers 

and residents would help everyone to better 

understand the issues surrounding police use 

of force and to engage in a more productive 

dialogue that can build community trust.

More federal resources for 

re-entry programming

A call for more funding, better 

coordination 

Summit participants pointed out that regardless 

of what prison system (federal or state) 

offenders are released from, they end up back in 

local communities—usually cities that currently 

lack the resources for comprehensive re-entry 

programming, especially drug abuse treatment. 

❨ 23 ❩
FBI Director James Comey on Data, NIBRS, Police Use of Force

In his remarks at the Attorney General’s Summit on 

Violent Crime, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) 

Director James Comey focused largely on the need 

for better, more timely, and more complete data to 

help not only policymakers and practitioners but also 

the general public better understand and address 

the issues of crime, violence, and police-civilian 

interactions. Here are some of the highlights of his 

remarks.

Explaining the map and the calendar

In discussing the recent surge in violence in some 

cities, Director Comey said decision makers need 

information that helps them explain two important 

variables: 

1. The map—why are spikes in violent crime 

happening in some places but not in others? 

2. The calendar—why are these crime spikes 

happening now?

He said that explaining the current map and calendar 

defies easy answers. “The question I keep asking 

my staff is, do the hypotheses fit the map and the 

calendar? When you stare at an entire country, you 

see cities, sometimes with little in common, that 

are seeing dramatic increases in violence, especially 

homicide. I keep asking, what has changed that 

would explain why this is happening in the first nine 

months of this year and all over the country?”

Director Comey said the Federal Government has 

a unique role to play in helping to answer these 

questions but noted that current data systems, such 

as the Uniform Crime Reports (UCR), do not provide 

either the depth of information or the timeliness that 

are needed to fully understand emerging trends such 

as the recent spike in violence. 

NIBRS implementation

Director Comey said that a key long-term goal is 

the more widespread implementation of NIBRS—

the National Incident Based Reporting System—as 

a replacement for the current UCRsystem.UCR 

typically reports information months after it is 

collected and does not provide the level of detail 

available in NIBRS. Comey acknowledged that 

there are financial and technical hurdles related to 

NIBRS implementation that local jurisdictions need 

to overcome. There are also issues of community 

perception that occur when some reported 

crime levels appear to increase following NIBRS 

implementation when in fact the “increase” may 

only reflect better, more complete reporting. The 

police chiefs of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Denver, 

Colorado—two major cities that have implemented 

NIBRS—indicated that this was a short-term issue 

in their communities that was addressed through 

community education and time. Comey pledged the 

FBI’s help to local jurisdictions in overcoming these 

hurdles, including plans to keep the UCR running 

simultaneously for a period of time as agencies 

implement NIBRS. 

In the meantime, he said the country needs to find 

other ways to develop a good short-term picture of 

crime in the country. Noting that everything from 

weekend movie box office 

sales to flu outbreaks can be measured in almost real 

time, he said the country should be able to do the 

same when it comes to violence, including violent 

encounters between police officers and residents. 

Understanding violent encounters between 

police and civilians

Director Comey said the lack of timely and accurate 

information about violent encounters between police 

officers and residents is contributing to ill-informed 

discussions that can undermine police-community 

trust. “I think every single conversation in this 

country, from the national level to a local level, about 

use of force and police encounters with civilians is by 

definition uninformed, and uninformed conversations 

are just dangerous for our country,” he said. He 

noted that while the number of officers killed in 

the line of duty is tracked through the LEOKA (Law 

Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted) program, 

the profession does not have a firm grasp on the 

number of officers assaulted by civilians in line of 

duty. “I just don’t think we can address these really, 

really important questions about policing and use of 

force without knowing the circumstances around how 

we’re encountering civilians and how these incidents 

are happening,” he said.

❨ 24 ❩ U.S. Attorney General’s Summit On Violent Crime
NYPD Commissioner Bratton suggested that

cost savings from incarcerating fewer offenders

should be dedicated to re-entry services. Mayors

and other officials spoke of the need to ensure

coordination in re-entry services among the 

Federal Interagency Reentry Council (FIRC)4 and 

the Strong Cities Strong Communities (SC2)

program of the U.S. Department of Housing and

Urban Development.

4. The Federal Interagency Re-entry Council released a series

of Mythbusters, or fact sheets, clarifying existing federal policies 

that affect formerly incarcerated individuals in areas such as 

financial aid, public housing, employment, parental rights, 

Medicaid suspension or termination, voting rights, and more. 

For more information, see “Reentry MythBusters,” Council of 

State Governments Justice Center, accessed April 11, 2016, 

https://csgjusticecenter.org/nrrc/projects/mythbusters/.

More flexibility and focus on 

the use of federal funds

A desire to hire civilian employees, 

direct resources for urban violent 

crime priorities 

Denver Chief White said that, in a push to put 

more officers on the street, his department 

would like to use federal hiring grants to 

recruit skilled civilian employees for technical 

and administrative tasks currently carried out 

by sworn officers. This type of program could 

allow for the hiring of more returning veterans, 

including wounded warriors, who want to 

remain in public service. DOJ officials noted 

that current federal appropriations language 

restricts hiring grants to sworn officers only, 

and Attorney General Lynch encouraged police 

chiefs and mayors to contact members of 

Congress on this issue. 

In addition, Chicago Mayor Emanuel noted 

that under a federal statute, a small percentage 

of asset forfeiture funds are returned to the 

U.S. Treasury each year to support deficit 

reduction. He argued that the money has a 

Re-Entry Programs 

“We are not going to jail our way to 

safer communities.”

—Sally Yates, Deputy Attorney General 

of the United States 

Summit participants spent considerable 

time discussing recent policy changes—both 

nationally and in some states specifically—that 

are shortening prison sentences for mostly 

nonviolent offenders, some of whom were 

sentenced years or even decades earlier. Summit 

participants generally agreed on the need for 

criminal justice reforms but identified two broad 

issues that will need attention as these policy 

changes take full effect. 

1. Violent and repeat offenders should be the

priority for limited prison space.

2. As more prisoners re-enter the community,

there must be sufficient job training, housing,

substance abuse, and mental health services

available to them to mitigate the potential for

recidivism.

Releasing prisoners back to the community 

without adequate supervision and social services 

could undermine the effectiveness of criminal 

justice reforms. Most offenders re-entering the 

community have multiple needs including a 

need for job training and placement, housing, 

and frequently substance abuse and mental 

health services. If these needs are not met, 

summit participants warned, many of the same 

people could end back in the justice system, 

and community safety will suffer. New York 

City Police Department (NYPD) Commissioner 

William Bratton reported that parolee-involved 

shootings have increased in New York City 

as the number of people released from state 

prisons has grown, but the number of parole 

officers supervising them has not risen. (Just two 

weeks after the summit, NYPD Officer Randolph 

Holder was shot and killed by a career criminal 

who had absconded from a drug treatment 

diversion program and engaged in a gunfight 

over a stolen bicycle.)* Bratton and other summit 

participants warned that without coordinated 

planning and resources, the country may risk 

repeating the same mistakes made in the 

1970s with the large-scale deinstitutionalization 

of people with mental illness but inadequate 

resources in the community to help them. 

What More Needs To Be Done? ❨ 25 ❩
“In the 1970s, we let hundreds of thousands people 

out of our mental institutions—well intended—

but they didn’t have any place to go, and they 

didn’t have supervision. We created the homeless 

problem in the cities. Similarly now, we’re letting 

people outof jails and prisons, and some of them 

are not going to have any place to go.”

—William Bratton, Commissioner, 

New York City Police Department 

California may provide an early look at the impact of 

policy changes at the state level.

In recent years, California has undertaken three 

major changes:

1. A so-called “realignment” that moved large 

numbers of offenders from state prison to county 

jails and community corrections

2. Proposition 36, which changed the state’s “three 

strikes” law to require that the third felony be a

serious or violent crime to qualify for a mandatory 

25 years-to-life sentence (previously, the third 

offense needed only to be any type of felony)

3. Most recently, Proposition 47, which reduced a 

number of drug and theft crimes from felonies 

to misdemeanors

While the California officials at the summit said it 

was too early to fully assess the impact these policy 

changes may have on crime and violence in their 

cities, anecdotal evidence suggests that many of the 

same offenders are now being arrested—and rearrested multiple times—mostly for drug and minor 

property offenses. One analysis found that in the 

11 months since Proposition 47 was enacted, more 

than 4,300 state prisoners had been resentenced and 

released; in the meantime, crime increased in several 

California cities.†

 Some summit participants said 

that repeated arrests for relatively minor offenses 

committed by the same offenders have the potential 

to tie up police and criminal justice resources, 

including probation and parole services, that could 

be devoted to more serious violent crime instead.

“The big rub right now is that there has not been an 

increase in parole agents, and there has not been an 

increase in probation officers, so we anticipate that 

is going to be an issue moving forward. We have to 

see if the other services will be available for those 

reentering the community from custody.”

—Paul Figueroa, Assistant Chief, Oakland (California) 

Police Department 

An unintended consequence: Fewer drug offenders 

seeking treatment.

California officials reported one unexpected and 

troubling result of the recently passed Proposition 

47: Without the possibility of a felony charge and 

a state prison sentence hanging over them, fewer 

drug offenders are electing to have their cases heard 

in the state’s drug courts, where drug treatment is 

typically a part of the adjudication. Instead, more 

of these offenders are choosing to have their cases 

heard in traditional criminal courts, and most are 

receiving probation or other community-based 

sentences that don’t include drug treatment. 

Over the past year, drug courts in both Fresno 

and Riverside have closed. With fewer lower-level 

drug offenders being diverted into treatment, and 

with resources tight for drug demand reduction in 

general, officials worry there could be an impact on 

property crimes and potentiallyviolent crime rates 

moving forward.

“One of the things that we did in the 90’s that 

I think is applicable now is to address the drug 

demand through drug treatment courts, through 

other treatment interventions, and also through 

re-entry, which is one of the progeny of drug 

treatment courts.”

—Karen Freeman-Wilson, Mayor, City of Gary, Indiana

* “Career Criminal Charged in Deadly Shooting of NYPD Officer,” CBS Radio Inc., last modified October 21, 2015, 

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2015/10/21/nypd-officer-killed-east-harlem-shooting/.

† Eli Saslow, “A ‘Virtual Get-Out-of-Jail Free Card:’ A New California Law to Reduce Prison Crowding Keeps One Addict Out of Jail, But 

Not Out of Trouble,” Washington Post, last modified October 10, 2015, http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/national/2015/10/10/prop47/.

❨ 26 ❩ U.S. Attorney General’s Summit On Violent Crime
minuscule impact on the overall deficit and 

that the funds could be used more effectively 

on hiring assistant U.S. attorneys to prosecute 

gun crimes and supporting other violent crime 

priorities. Again, this adjustment would require 

a change in the language contained in federal 

appropriations bill. 

Finally, Hartford, Connecticut, Mayor Pedro 

Segarra and Gary Mayor Freeman-Wilson 

pointed out that many federal programs 

are funneled through state governments, 

whose leaders don’t always share the mayors’ 

concerns over urban violence. They suggested 

that money for some antiviolence initiatives 

be awarded directly to cities, which are better 

positioned than the states to understand 

the violent crime problems and know what 

strategies work best to combat them.

More public and visible displays 

of support for police officers and 

community partners

A call to stand behind and support 

those on the front lines of violence 

prevention and community safety

Summit participants agreed that the vast 

majority of police officers in the United States 

perform admirably and heroically, yet their 

contributions are often overshadowed by 

those officers who do not perform to the 

highest standards. Dallas Chief Brown and 

others remarked that it is unfortunate and 

unfair for the entire policing profession to be 

defined by a small number of officers who 

engage in wrongdoing.

Summit participants discussed a number of 

ways that mayors, police chiefs, and other 

leaders can demonstrate their support for 

officers—from personally visiting police roll 

calls, posting positive videos on social media, 

and expressing support for officers during 

community events and via the social media. 

The Reverend Jeffrey Brown noted that it is also 

important to value and show support for the 

large number of community members who are 

on the ground working cooperatively with the 

police to combat crime—“not the show horses 

but the work horses” who are committed 

advocates for true community policing.

What More Needs To Be Done? ❨ 27 ❩
Participants meet at the Attorney General’s Summit on Violent Crime, October 7, 2015
CONCLUSION

“I know that progress will not be immediate and certainly won’t be 

easy. But I am confident that we are identifying effective ways to 

improve public safety—and putting them to good use. And I am excited 

for all that we will achieve—together—in the days and months to come.”

—Loretta E. Lynch, Attorney General of the United States

This report summarizes the major themes and 

issues discussed during the Attorney General’s 

Summit on Violent Crime. It represents a 

snapshot of some very dynamic, complex, and 

challenging issues that our nation—and especially 

our cities—are grappling with right now. 

It is critically important not to look at these 

issues in isolation. While the summit explored 

a number of individual factors that may be 

contributing to recent increases in violent 

crime—guns, gangs, drugs, and levels of 

proactive policing—it also served to reinforce 

the fact that it is impossible to separate these 

factors from one another. These issues are 

interconnected, and they are interconnecting 

at a time when violent crime is increasing in 

many communities and in an environment 

where community trust and police legitimacy 

are facing serious challenges. Proposed 

solutions need to account for and address the 

connections among these and probably other 

contributing factors.

In the meantime, it is imperative that the 

discussions and information sharing that took 

place during the Attorney General’s Summit 

on Violent Crime continue—within individual 

jurisdictions, across the cities that participated 

in the summit, and to other communities. 

This was a theme that Attorney General Lynch 

stressed in the question-and-answer session 

she held with summit participants and during 

her closing remarks at the summit. (See the 

sidebar for a more detailed summary of the 

attorney general’s remarks.) She closed by 

thanking the organizers and participants in 

the summit and urging everyone to remain 

committed to working together.

❨ 29 ❩
Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch on Partnerships, Federal Support, 

and Creative Responses to Crime

In her closing remarks at the Attorney General’s 

Summit on Violent Crime, Attorney General Loretta 

E. Lynch summarized many of the themes discussed 

throughout the day, including partnerships, 

federal support for local efforts, and the need for 

comprehensive responses.

The “power of partnerships”

Attorney General Lynch said the summit reflected 

the types of collaborative efforts that are needed 

to stay on top of and address the “shifting patterns 

of violence over time.” She applauded ongoing 

partnerships not only among law enforcement 

officials at all levels of government but also 

“between law enforcement and the citizens we 

serve.” Referring to her recent six-city community 

policing tour, the attorney general said, “I had the 

opportunity to see community leaders, public safety 

officers, elected officials andyoung people joining 

together to build safer, stronger, more cohesive 

communities.” She praised summit participants for 

being dedicated to the same principles.

U.S. Department of Justice leadership

Noting, as others did, that public safety in the United 

States is largely a local responsibility, Attorney 

General Lynch highlighted ways in which the U.S. 

Department of Justice is working to support state 

and local partners and “helping to advance our 

shared mission.” The attorney general said, “We are 

taking innovative new approaches to criminal justice 

and community policing” through programs such 

as the National Initiative for Building Community 

Trust and Justice, the Smart on Crime Initiative, the 

President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing, 

the Violence Reduction Network, and major grant 

programs from the Office of Justice Programs and 

Office of Community Oriented Policing Services.

“In all these efforts, we’re working tirelessly and 

creatively, through a variety of channels, to reduce 

violent crime, to promote officer safety, and to 

restore community trust and security across the 

country,” Attorney General Lynch said.

Multifaceted issues—multifaceted responses

Finally, Attorney General Lynch noted the complex 

nature of crime and violence and the need for a 

variety of complementary responses. Criminal justice 

officials will always play a critical role in combating 

violence, she said, but even as the country focuses 

on what the police can do, “we also need to discuss 

how we can alleviate some of the problems that 

stifle opportunity and lead to violence in the first 

place—from poverty to substandard schools to 

homelessness to inadequate mental health services,” 

she said. Noting ongoing partnerships with other 

federal agencies—the U.S. Departments of Education, 

Health and Human Services, and Housing and 

Urban Development, among others—the attorney 

general said, “It’s why we are examining holistic, 

comprehensive approaches, and it’s why we will 

continue to build a strong and effective coalition to 

take on the complex challenges.” She applauded all of 

the summit participants for their willingness to tackles 

these challenges and work to build safer communities.

❨ 30 ❩ U.S. Attorney General’s Summit On Violent Crime
APPENDIX. VIOLENT CRIME 

SUMMIT PARTICIPANTS

Jerry Abramson

Deputy Assistant to the President and Director

of Intergovernmental Affairs, The White House

Tom Barrett

Mayor, City of Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Michael Bosworth

White House Deputy Counsel,

The White House

Muriel Bowser

Mayor, City of Washington, District of Columbia

Tom Brandon

Acting Director, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, 

Firearms, and Explosives

William Bratton

Police Commissioner, New York City (New York) 

Police Department

David Brown

Chief of Police, Dallas (Texas) Police Department

Jeff Brown

Senior Pastor, Twelfth Street Baptist Church, 

Boston, Massachusetts

Richard Callahan

U.S. Attorney, U.S. Attorney’s Office

for the Eastern District of Missouri

David Capp

U.S. Attorney, U.S. Attorney’s Office

for the Northern District of Indiana

Tom Cochran

Executive Director, U.S. Conference of Mayors

Vincent Cohen

U.S. Attorney, U.S. Attorney’s Office

for the District of Columbia

James Comey

Director, Federal Bureau of Investigation

Kelly T. Currie

U.S. Attorney, U.S. Attorney’s Office

for the Eastern District of New York

Deirdre Daly

U.S. Attorney, U.S. Attorney’s Office

for the District of Connecticut

Kevin Davis

Police Commissioner, Baltimore (Maryland)

Police Department

Ronald L. Davis

Director, U.S. Department of Justice Office

of Community Oriented Policing Services

Stuart F. Delery

Acting Associate Attorney General,

U.S. Department of Justice Office of the

Associate Attorney General

D. Samuel Dotson

Chief of Police, St. Louis (Missouri) Metropolitan 

Police Department

Jerry Dyer

Chief of Police, Fresno (California)

Police Department

Neil Eggleston

White House Counsel, The White House

Rahm Emanuel

Mayor, City of Chicago, Illinois

❨ 31 ❩
John Escalante

First Deputy Superintendent, Chicago (Illinois) 

Police Department

William Evans

Police Commissioner, Boston (Massachusetts) 

Police Department

Zachary Fardon

U.S. Attorney, U.S. Attorney’s Office

for the Northern District of Illinois

Paul Figueroa

Assistant Chief, Oakland (California)

Police Department

Edward Flynn

Chief of Police, Milwaukee (Wisconsin)

Police Department

Karen Freeman-Wilson

Mayor, City of Gary, Indiana

Bob Gualtieri

Sheriff, Pinellas County (Florida) and member, 

Major County Sheriffs’ Association

Gregory Haanstad

U.S. Attorney, U.S. Attorney’s Office

for the Eastern District of Wisconsin

Michael B. Hancock

Mayor, City of Denver, Colorado

Dave Harlow

Acting Director, U.S. Marshals Service

Michael Harrison

Superintendent of Police, New Orleans (Louisiana) 

Police Department

David Hendricks

Deputy Chief, Long Beach (California)

Police Department

J. Damian Huggins

Deputy Chief, Metropolitan Nashville (Tennessee) 

Police Department

Mitchell Landrieu

Mayor, City of New Orleans, Louisiana

Damon Martinez

U.S. Attorney, U.S. Attorney’s Office

for the District of New Mexico

Karol Mason

Assistant Attorney General, U.S. Department

of Justice Office of Justice Programs

Charles McClelland

Chief of Police, Houston (Texas) Police Department

Larry McKinley

Chief of Police, Gary (Indiana) Police Department

John McNeil

First Assistant, U.S. Attorney’s Office

for the District of Massachusetts

Zane Memeger

U.S. Attorney, U.S. Attorney’s Office

for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania

Peter Newsham

Assistant Chief, Metropolitan Police Department, 

Washington, D.C.

John Parker

U.S. Attorney, U.S. Attorney’s Office

for the Northern District of Texas

Myron Patterson

Chief Inspector, Philadelphia (Pennsylvania)

Police Department

Kenneth Polite

U.S. Attorney, U.S. Attorney’s Office

for the Eastern District of Louisiana

Mike Rawlings

Mayor, City of Dallas, Texas

Stephanie Rawlings-Blake

Mayor, City of Baltimore, Maryland

David Rivera

U.S. Attorney, U.S. Attorney’s Office

for the Middle District of Tennessee

Chuck Rosenberg

Acting Administrator, Drug Enforcement Administration

Richard Rosenfeld

Professor, University of Missouri-St. Louis

Rod Rosenstein

U.S. Attorney, U.S. Attorney’s Office

for the District of Maryland

James Rovella

Chief of Police, Hartford (Connecticut)

Police Department

❨ 32 ❩ U.S. Attorney General’s Summit On Violent Crime
Julia Ryan

Community Safety Initiative Director,

Local Initiatives Support Corporation

Pedro Segarra

Mayor, City of Hartford, Connecticut

Francis G. Slay

Mayor, City of St. Louis, Missouri

Brian Stretch

U.S. Attorney, U.S. Attorney’s Office

for the Northern District of California

Robert C. Stuart

First Assistant, U.S. Attorney’s Office

for the District of Nebraska

Benjamin Wagner

U.S. Attorney, U.S. Attorney’s Office

for the Eastern District of California

Martin Walsh

Mayor, City of Boston, Massachusetts

John Walsh

U.S. Attorney, U.S. Attorney’s Office

for the District of Colorado

Chuck Wexler

Executive Director, Police Executive

Research Forum

Robert C. White

Chief of Police, Denver (Colorado)

Police Department

Sally Yates

Deputy Attorney General, U.S. Department of 

Justice Office of the Deputy Attorney General

Appendix. Violent Crime Summit Participants ❨ 33 ❩
Senior U.S. Department of Justice officials meet at the Attorney General’s Summit on Violent Crime, October 7, 2015
ABOUT PERF

The Police Executive Research Forum (PERF)

is an independent research organization that 

focuses on critical issues in policing. Since 

its founding in 1976, PERF has identified 

best practices on fundamental issues such 

as reducing police use of force, developing 

community policing and problem-oriented 

policing, using technologies to deliver police 

services to the community, and evaluating 

crime reduction strategies.

PERF strives to advance professionalism in 

policing and to improve the delivery of 

police services through the exercise of strong 

national leadership, public debate of police 

and criminal justice issues, and research and 

policy development.

In addition to conducting research and 

publishing reports on our findings, PERF 

conducts management studies of individual 

law enforcement agencies, educates hundreds 

of police officials each year in a three-week 

executive development program, and provides 

executive search services to governments that 

wish to conduct national searches for their next 

police chief.

All of PERF’s work benefits from PERF’s status 

as a membership organization of police 

officials, academics, Federal Government 

leaders, and others with an interest in policing 

and criminal justice.

All PERF members must have a four-year 

college degree and must subscribe to a 

set of founding principles emphasizing the 

importance of research and public debate 

in policing, adherence to the Constitution 

and the highest standards of integrity, and 

accountability to the communities that 

police agencies serve.

PERF is governed by a member-elected 

president and board of directors and a 

board-appointed executive director. 

A staff of approximately 30 full-time 

professionals is based in Washington, D.C.

To learn more, visit PERF online at 

www.policeforum.org.

❨ 35 ❩
ABOUT THE COPS OFFICE

The Office of Community Oriented Policing 

Services (COPS Office) is the component of 

the U.S. Department of Justice responsible for 

advancing the practice of community policing 

by the nation’s state, local, territorial, and tribal 

law enforcement agencies through information 

and grant resources.

Community policing begins with a commitment 

to building trust and mutual respect between 

police and communities. It supports public 

safety by encouraging all stakeholders to 

work together to address our nation’s crime 

challenges. When police and communities 

collaborate, they more effectively address 

underlying issues, change negative behavioral 

patterns, and allocate resources. 

Rather than simply responding to crime, 

community policing focuses on preventing it 

through strategic problem solving approaches 

based on collaboration. The COPS Office awards 

grants to hire community police and support the 

development and testing of innovative policing 

strategies. COPS Office funding also provides 

training and technical assistance to community 

members and local government leaders, as well 

as all levels of law enforcement.

Another source of COPS Office assistance is 

the Collaborative Reform Initiative for Technical 

Assistance (CRI-TA). Developed to advance 

community policing and ensure constitutional 

practices, CRI-TA is an independent, objective 

process for organizational transformation. It 

provides recommendations based on expert 

analysis of policies, practices, training, tactics, 

and accountability methods related to issues 

of concern.

Since 1994, the COPS Office has invested more 

than $14 billion to add community policing 

officers to the nation’s streets, enhance crime 

fighting technology, support crime prevention 

initiatives, and provide training and technical 

assistance to help advance community policing.

» To date, the COPS Office has funded the 

hiring of approximately 127,000 additional 

officers by more than 13,000 of the nation’s 

18,000 law enforcement agencies in both 

small and large jurisdictions.

» Nearly 700,000 law enforcement personnel, 

community members, and government 

leaders have been trained through COPS 

Office-funded training organizations.

» To date, the COPS Office has distributed 

more than eight million topic-specific 

publications, training curricula, white 

papers, and resource CDs.

» The COPS Office also sponsors conferences, 

roundtables, and other forums focused on 

issues critical to law enforcement.

The COPS Office information resources, covering 

a wide range of community policing topics—from 

school and campus safety to gang violence—

can be downloaded at www.cops.usdoj.gov. 

This website is also the grant application portal, 

providing access to online application forms.

❨ 36 ❩

After several U.S. cities experienced sudden increases in violent crime during the first half of 

2015, the U.S. Attorney General’s Summit on Violent Crime was called to help both policy makers 

and practitioners gain a better understanding of the situation and how it could be addressed 

most effectively.

Mayors, police chiefs, and U.S. attorneys representing 20 U.S. cities, most of which have experienced 

increases in violent crime, came to Washington to offer their perspectives on the issue. This report 

provides a summary of the issues discussed, which focused on the factors that may be driving the 

recent surge in violence and possible strategies for reversing it, exploring topics such as illegal gun 

possession, gangs, drugs, and the reduction in proactive policing.

U.S. Department of Justice 

Office of Community Oriented Policing Services 

145 N Street NE 

Washington, DC 20530

To obtain details about COPS Office programs, call 

the COPS Office Response Center at 800-421-6770.

Visit the COPS Office online at www.cops.usdoj.gov.

Police Executive Research Forum 

1120 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 930 

Washington, DC 20036

202-466-7820

Visit PERF online at www.policeforum.org.

e041607752

Published 2016